After seeing a deathless day from Covid-19, Bangladesh reported seven more deaths in 24 hours till Sunday morning along with 199 fresh infections.

Bangladesh on Saturday logged zero Covid-linked deaths with 178 cases.

The daily case positivity rate declined to 1.16 per cent today from Saturday’s 1.18 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Also read: Zero death from Covid brings relief for Bangladesh

Six of today’s deceased were men and one was a woman. Five of the deaths were reported from Dhaka division while one each from Chattogram and Khulna divisions.

With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 27,953 while the caseload mounted to 1,574,088. However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 per cent.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 17,135 samples, the DGHS added.

Besides, the recovery rate remained the same as 97.72 per cent with the recovery of 192 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Huge vaccination target

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the government will administer 6 crore more Covid-19 vaccine doses by January next across the country. “So far, 9 crore vaccine doses have been administered and the government aims to administer 6 crore more doses by January next,” he said.

With the administering of 6 crore more vaccine doses, some 7.5 crore people of the country will fully be vaccinated, Zahid Maleque added.

Zahid Maleque said, some 13 crore people in Bangladesh are eligible to get vaccinated and 1 crore of them are living abroad.

After vaccinating 7.5 crore people, he said, the remaining 3.5 crore will soon be brought under the vaccination campaign in phases.

Also read: Bangladesh bracing for third Covid wave?

Covid-19 Waves

On January 12 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City of Hubei Province in China.

On December 31, 2019, China reported to the WHO some cases of pneumonia with unknown causes.

Bangladesh was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic along with many other countries across the globe on March 8 last year when Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported the first three cases.

During mid-January to the first week of March, 2021 the infection rate remained below 5 and from the last week of March 2021, the infection and death toll gradually increased suggesting the start of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.

Third wave not ruled out

Some of the leading public health experts in Bangladesh have warned that the current trend of plummeting Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh could well be the obvious calm before a cataclysmic storm.

Their fears centers around children below 12 who remain out of the vaccine coverage and the elderly people.

These experts fear a slow pace of vaccination, waning vaccine immunity, sheer disregard for Covid-safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travel may set the stage for another Covid wave in Bangladesh -- a trend many European countries are witnessing now.